One thing I regret is having not figured out years ago how to get in the "zone" running. When I was younger and would bike intensively for miles I could get there. It's that rush of pleasure that comes from the push of muscles and energy. But biking requires a bike, and space and time and back then I thought of running as something you did on a track and it was tedious. As I have discovered the last couple years on trails and roads is that running can be intense, done anywhere, as I proved running through Times Square in NYC, can take as much time as you have or want. 

Hurricane Sandy is blowing away out there. I came home early because the office closed. The drive home was fine and the rain had just begun but it is still daylight.  So seizing the opportunity I grabbed my sneakers and headed out for a run into town and back, about a 4 mile run.  I have learned to love running in the rain. The coolness of the rain balances the heat generated running and I just like the feeling. This afternoon it was not only the rain but the wind and as I built up some speed the feeling was great. In town it was empty and quiet and not so much rain that I could sprint without puddles, though as I did the last downhill. the rain and wind picked up and the keeping my shirt on became uncomfortable. So ridding my self of that I sprinted down that half mile hill and up the final hill to our street with the wind and rain pelting me. It was absolutely wonderful.

As I alluded to mentioned with my hard drive from my last blurb, I have little tolerance for technology that doesn't work the way it is suppose to and have about had my fill of banks and credit card companies. When  you combine the two it is enough to make normally polite me into some they would rather not have to deal with. Over a weekend the credit card company, had cancelled it's card, sold my account and reissued it under another company, with only a general warning months ago that it was happening but with no specific date and also cancelled all automatic payments to or from the card effective immediately.  And the bank that held the account before, Bank of America,  had no information to provide.  By Monday I had received the email that confirmed what I knew and that I would have to set up all automatic payments with the new card number. That is the number when I received it [they had mailed them the previous Friday]

I was livid and felt sorry for anyone crossing my pass that day. Getting a phone message that the wait time was 60 minutes at the credit card company I hit the message boards and with the help of Google found a few with people similar to me complaining about their experience. So linking from these the card sponsor I left my posts with the subject line "ABC credit card transition Sucks" and email the PR department of the sponsor letting them know that my preferred card had move to emergency back-up.  I am never rude but can be very pointed and have no problem seeking out message boards on which to let potential customer know about their service. [this often works when the facts are correct and they screwed up]

By the end of the week I was getting multiple emails to try to fix things, personal calls from a dept call the "office of the president"  and a hand written apology and a $ 25 gift card.  I still haven't decided to take the card back out of the drawer.


I finished the Brocktrot 10k a couple of weekend ago a minute faster than my time last year an unlike last year I wasn't about to pass out at the finish line. Still in the top half of finishers but it will take some real work from me to get my time down sufficiently to move away from that pack.

I am just finishing up with a cold that  came on the day before my birthday week or so ago. It has been hanging around longer than it's welcome, that is if it is ever welcome.  I usually get 1 cold a year and hopefully this is it. Of course it is cool and rainy weather hasn't helped much and unfortunately my work schedule last week didn't leave much time to stay home, plus I get unbelievably bored. So I used lots and lots of hand sanitizer this week to minimize my exposure to others around the house and work.

It is full blown fall here. The leaves yellow and red and from the rain and many are turning brown. Some have started to fall, which means I have to keep the lawn mowed [difficult with all this rain] so that some or many of the leaves blow away into the woods or into my neighbor's yard. I don't feel too guilty about that as he has some big trees and lots of power equipment and time, all of which I don't have.  I will still get my share and will tackle them. Did I mention that it's been raining?  I though over the weekend that I might have a chance to mow the lawn and chew up some leave but the grass never got dry enough .

 But there is usually something else that can be done around the house and these two pallets of wood pellets have been sitting next to the driveway getting in the way every time I back out.


Moving the pellets has never been fun and I have tried all different ways including borrowing the neighbor's cart that he uses to stack a half dozen on and wheel it in and some years the kids have been around to help out. Each pallet is 75 bags and 1 and 1/2 tons. Plus I had about 20 bags in the garage that I needed to move out of the way so that the new bags could go in first and then I'd pile the older ones in front to use first.

This year it was just me and even though I'd been working out quite a bit since the last time I figured I'd move in a half a pallet and spread it out over a few days.  I was after all a year older than last time.

But to my pleased amazement it was a piece of cake. The cart was buried deep at the back of the garage so I just dove in hoisting a couple bags at a time and hustling back and forth. In almost no time the first pallet was gone and while I'd worked up a good sweat I jumped in on the second. Polishing that one off too I realized when I checked the clock that just over an hour had gone by since I started. So I guess the workouts really have had some effect. Duh!!

A few ibuprofen and I was fine enough for a 5 mile run the next day.

As heating season kicks in my daily workout will include hauling in one of these 40 pound bags off the pile. It becomes more annoying than a chore as it usually is at 10PM that I am reloading the stove before I start to crash and find out that there isn't enough to fill it and I have to venture out into the cold for a bag. By February it becomes old.

But if those are my complaints, I am doing pretty well. Life in the Shire, as we sometimes fondly refer t is,  is doing ok. Work is still a little manic primarily because the individuals involved but the pace leveling off. The young'ins are thriving in their new adventures and while we don't get to see them both as much, what did we do without texting and Skype.

So this blog entry is on the mundane, as it seems blogs often become. It's still early evening and we have a late night Skype check in so I am contemplating whether to go for a run in the rain to wake myself up.  Perhaps that is better than letting myself get cozy on the couch.